1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to optical detectors in general, and in particular to a method for manufacturing lateral germanium detectors.
2. Description of Related Art
Photodetection in the near-infrared (IR) regime has many applications, such as telecommunications, thermal imaging, etc. InGaAs-based PIN photodetectors are commonly used for telecommunication applications due to their high responsivity and speed. However, the majority of the InGaAs-based detectors are normal incidence detectors, and the integration of such devices on silicon surfaces can be very expensive. Also, integration of high-speed InGaAs detectors requires special optics to focus light into a small active area, which has been found to reduce device performance.
Germanium-based detectors are known to be a suitable alternative. However, germanium-based detectors exhibit a higher dark current than InGaAs-based detectors, which limit their application in the telecommunications industry. In recent years, attempts have been made to improve the performance of polycrystalline germanium-based detectors for these applications. One exemplary prior art poly-germanium detector is described by Colace et al. in an article entitled Efficient high-speed near-infrared Ge photodetectors integrated on Si substrates (Applied Physics Letters, vol. 76, p. 1231 et seq., 2000).
The present disclosure provides an improved method for manufacturing lateral germanium-based detectors.